The 2002 Huskies age group has been one of the most consistent programs over the past few season in the Alliance. For this upcoming season, this will be a Huskies team that nobody has seen before.

At Minor Midget last year, the Huskies were a fairly balanced team. Large forwards, solid defense and timely goaltending led Hamilton to become a dark horse team that was able to upset some of the better Alliance squads. A lack of clutch scoring and the loss of top D Ben Sheppard ultimately led to the early exit for Hamilton.Click here for full article

It is finally that time of the year. The OHL Priority Selection draft is upon us and as always it is a very exciting day.

This draft will be different than in past years because of the fact that we now do have the Midget draft in play. Not to say that changes a whole lot but we still do not know what teams strategies will be, especially when it comes to goaltenders.

Looking back at 2016, the Alliance had 36 players taken in the priority selection draft. Of those 36, 22 were forwards, 11 defenseman and 3 goaltenders. Those 36 players represented all 12 teams in the Alliance. When we look at the draft this season, I would expect to see the number of players remain around the 35-40 mark with the possibility of surpassing 40.

Stay tuned at AllianceHockeyScout.com for all the up to date picks involving Alliance players. It’s going to be quite the day so come along for the ride beginning at 9am EST.

A rematch of last year’s first round series, the Waterloo Wolves quest for yet another Alliance championship will need to go through a Hamilton team that has been playing tight, defensive hockey over the past month.

The Waterloo Wolves are on an incredibly impressive run heading into the postseason. The Wolves have won 16 straight games which includes a huge win over the London Jr. Knights just a couple weeks ago. While Waterloo has not dominated throughout their win streak, they have found a way to pull out games when they needed to and get timely scoring along the way.Click here for full article

After a countless amount of live game viewings spanning many cities and many different teams, it is finally time to bring out the Alliance Player Rankings for the 2001 born players.

This year for the Alliance features a lot of top end talent on the ice to go along with an Alliance team that was ranked #4 in the inaugural OHL Cup Rankings.

There were two different areas of this list that were fairly difficult. Firstly, it was narrowing down my original list of about 45 players down to the 25 that compile this list. That was a task that took lots of debate and overview to finally come to a decision. Secondly, it was trying to arrange players in slot where there is such a miniscule difference between some of these players.

So the 25 have now been slotted and we will start with the players landing in the 16-25 range. There will not be any “on the bubble” list but it is probably inevitable that next month when the 2nd list makes an appearance that some new faces will be there.

Coming up this weekend, Waterloo will host yet another Alliance All-Star weekend. The event, which showcases players from Bantam to Midget, is also the beginning of the selection process for the Alliance OHL Gold Cup team as well as the first viewing for some looking to represent Team Canada next year at the U16 tournament.

68 Minor Midget players were selected as part of the four team mini tournament that occurs throughout the weekend. 36 forwards, 24 defenseman and 8 goalies in total will make the trek.

Good news! I barely saw any nets come loose causing multiple stoppages in the play. Aside from the quality of the games on the ice, the biggest positive to take away from the second day at the Alliance Showcase.

Chatham-Kent speeds past host Huron-Perth

In the opening game of the morning, the Chatham-Kent Cyclones continued their strong play this weekend with a 2-0 shutout win over host Huron-Perth. While not complete domination, the Lakers were hard pressed to get any good scoring chances instead attempting long shots on net and crashing for the rebounds.

The Cyclones showed that they will be a handful for teams that don’t possess to speed and size that is currently in the Chatham-Kent lineup. Lucas Fancy was one forward who stood out for me this morning. Small in size, he makes up for it by making quick decisions and is one of the leaders on the ice. Reminds me a bit of Sean Kawalec from last year’s Kitchener squad. Along with Fancy, forwards Evan Wells and Cole Mackinnon were strong in the win. Nolan Dekoning picked up the shutout, his first win of the season.Click here for full article

A year after allowing the most goals in the Alliance at the Minor Midget level, the Huskies are hoping an influx of talent from across town will help them to contend this season.

The 2015/16 Minor Midget team in Hamilton boasted the best scorer and arguably the best power forward in the league in their lineup. Derek Seguin and Isaac Taylor were both weapons that both needed to be contained to stop the Huskies offense. Only problem was, Seguin and Taylor’s offense couldn’t overcome a defense that allowed an average of nearly 4 goals a game. There was plenty of potential for the team, but defensively there was plenty to desire.Click here for full article